ILLINOIS
POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January
7,
1982
VILLAGE OF CROSSVILLE,
Petitioner,
v.
PCB 81~~156
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
)
AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF
THE BOARD
(by J.D,
Dumelle):
On October 13, 1981 the
Village of Crossville
(Village)
filed
a petition for variance
from the operator certification
requirement of Rule 1201 of Chapter
3:
Water
Pollution.
An amended petition was filed on October
21,
1981.
The Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency)
filed a recommendation
to grant the requested variance subject to certain conditions
on November 23,
1981, which was accompanied by a motion to
file instanter.
That motion
is hereby granted.
Hearing was
waived, and none was held.
The Village owns and operates a wastewater treatment plant
(WWTP)
located immediately
west
of the Village which discharges
into Elliot Creek, which is tributary to the Little Wabash River
near the Village.
The WWTP is operated pursuant to NPDES Permit
#IL0028724,
The WWTP consists of one wet well, one lift station,
an Imhoff tank,
a chemical dosing tank, three syphoning flush
boxes,
three intermittent
sand filters and
sludge drying bed.
The design average flow is
0,1 million gallons per day.
The
WWTP is classified as a
Group D
facility, requiring it to be
under the supervision of a Class
4 certified operator.
The
facility is currently
under the
supervision of Mr. Charles
Ruether, an uncertified operator.
Discharge Monitoring Reports and Agency grab samples indicate
several NPDES permit violations
for BOD and TSS~ The Agency
inspected the WWTP on June
9,
1981 and found several
deficiencies
in the equipment, maintenance, and
operations
of the facility.
The effluent exhibited a gray color due to the lack of secondary
treatment and heavy sludge deposits on the bottom
of the
receiving stream indicated frequent bypass of the sand filters.
However,
all of the problems predated
the hiring of Mr. Ruether
on September
1,
1981.
45—57
—2—
According to present certification procedures,
Mr. Ruether
should qualify for the Class
4 examination by June 1,
1982.
This could be impacted by the Agency’s revision of its certifi-
cation procedures, which may take effect in late January or early
February of 1982.
Under the proposed procedures,
the Village’s WWTP
will become a Group
3 facility requiring a Certified Class
3
Operator.
The Agency alleges that Mr. Ruether would qualify
for the Class
4 examination on March
1,
1982, and the Class
3
by June
1,
1983 under the proposed procedures.
However, if
variance is granted in this case the Village would come into
current compliance and, therefore,
qualify for a two year exemption
from the Class
3 requirement under Proposed Section 502 of
the Agency’s procedures, by which time actual compliance should
be attained.
The Village alleges that Mr. Ruether is ~‘willing,and
capable, to operate the treatment plant
at no increased
cost
to the Village~’.
The Agency does not disagree and points
to the fact that some of the noted deficiencies have been,
or
are being, corrected under Mr. Ruether~ssupervision.
If variance were denied,
it would be necessary for the
Village to hire a Class
4 operator.
Assuming that Mr. Ruether,
who also maintains the water treatment plant, village roads,
and the natural gas distribution system, would not be laid
off, the Village would have to expend an additional $110-125
month which would create a hardship on a community the size of
the Village.
Since there is no indication that any environmen-
tal harm would result from a variance grant, the Board finds
that variance denial would cause an arbitrary or unreasonable
hardship on the Village and that variance should be granted.
However, given the noted deficiencies, the Board will impose
conditions on the variance to ensure that these deficiencies
are corrected.
This Opinion constitutes the Board~sfindings of fact of
fact and conclusions of law in this matter,
ORDER
The Village of Crossville is hereby granted
variance
from Rule 1201 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution, until
August
1,
1982, or until
Mr. Ruether becomes properly certified, or
until
Mr. Ruether terminates his employment with the Village
of Crossville as the WWTP operator, whichever first occurs,
subject to the following conditions:
1.
The Village shall skim the gas vents on the
Imhoff
tank on a routine basis.
2.
The Village shall provide for sludge withdrawal
from the Imhoff tank on a routine basis.
3.
The Village shall maintain all
3 dosing siphons in
working order.
45—58
—3—
4.
The Village shall maintain all
filters free of vegetation.
5.
The Village shall repair concrete dosing troughs.
6.
The Village shall maintain flappergate at outfall.
7.
The Village shall provide any other operation and
maintenance that is necessary to achieve the best
degree of treatment that is possible.
8.
Within forty five (45) days of the date of this
Order, the Village shall
submit to the
Agency
a
Certificate of Acceptance to be bound by the terms
of the variance.
The Certificate
shall be addressed
as follows:
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Division of Water Pollution Control
Compliance Assurance
Section
2200 Churchill Road
sfr~ingfield,Illinois
62706
The Certificate shall
be in the following form:
CERTIFICATION
I
(We), _______________________ having read and fully
understanding the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board
in PCB 81—156 dated January
7,
1982, hereby accept said
Order and agree to be bound by all terms and conditions thereof.
SIGNED
___________________________
TITLE
_______
___________________
DATE
_____________________________
IT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan
L.
Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois
Pollution
Control
Board, hereby
certify that the above Opinion and Order
was~doptedon the
day of~,
1981 by a vote
45—59